Saturday, 2 December 2017

“There is nothing more to be said or to be done tonight, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable ways of our fellowmen.” ― Arthur Conan Doyle

Eduard Franck (5 October 1817 – 1 December 1893) was a German composer, pianist and music pedagogue. Franck was born in Breslau, the capital of the Prussian province of Silesia. He was the fourth child of a wealthy and cultivated banker who exposed his children to the best and brightest that Germany had to offer. Frequenters to the Franck home included such luminaries as Heine, Humboldt, Heller, Mendelssohn, and Wagner. His family's financial position allowed Franck to study with Mendelssohn as a private student in Düsseldorf and later in Leipzig.

As a talented pianist, he embarked upon a dual career as a concert artist and teacher for more than four decades during the course of which he held many positions. Although he was highly regarded as both a teacher and performer, he never achieved the public recognition of his better known contemporaries such as Mendelssohn, Schumann or Liszt. As fine a pianist as the first two and perhaps even a better teacher, the fact that he failed to publish very many of his compositions until toward the end of his life, in part, explains why he was not better known.

Said to be a perfectionist, he continually delayed releasing his works until they were polished to his demanding standards. Schumann, among others, thought quite highly of the few works he did publish during the first part of his life. He was the father of Richard Franck (3 January 1858 – 22 January 1938) who was also a pianist, composer and teacher.

Eduard Franck’s chamber music is generally considered amongst his finest compositions. Of the works with opus numbers, there are 3 string quartets, 2 string quintets for 2 violins, 2 violas and cello, 2 string sextets, 4 piano trios, a piano quintet, 2 sonatas for cello & piano, and 4 sonatas for violin and piano. In addition to these, there are several other works without opus, including a piano sextet, 2 piano trios, a piano quintet, a sonata for violin & piano and an occasional piece for cello & piano.

Wilhelm Altmann, one of the most important chamber music critics of the 20th century, writes of Franck’s chamber music: “This excellent composer does not deserve the neglect with which he has been treated. He had a mastery of form and a lively imagination which is clearly reflected in the fine and attractive ideas one finds in his works.” Of Franck’s Second Sextet, Altmann states: “This sextet belongs in the concert hall. It demonstrates that its composer was master of musical form and in possession of a gift which allows him to produce strong and noble melodies.”

Friday, 1 December 2017

“If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm.” - Frank Lane

We were greeted the first day of Summer in Melbourne with a stormy and very rainy start. Record rainfall and flooding in many areas were accompanied by a cool change. The rain remained and is predicted to last for quite a few days more, with all of Victoria and southern NSW being affected. Such being the weather, soup was in order!

MethodPreheat the oven to 160°C. Chop the pumpkin, potatoes, peppers, onion and carrots into big chunky pieces (4-5 cm cubes). Cut the tomatoes into small cubes. Toss the vegetables with the olive oil until they’re evenly coated and add the rosemary sprigs. Place in a deep baking dish in the oven for about 1 - 2 hours, adding the whole garlic bulb after the first hour. When the vegetables are cooked, they should be slightly caramellised and flavoursome. Leave them to cool in the baking pan.

Remove the rosemary sprigs and squeeze the garlic flesh out of the papery husk into the pan with the vegetables. Add the stock in the baking pan and mix thoroughly. Heat the pan over the stove stirring through to break down the vegetables and dissolve the flavoursome pan juices into the soup.

Carefully transfer the contents of the baking tray into a saucepan with a large ladle and add the spices and salt. Liquidise the soup in the pan with a mixing wand and reheat. Check seasoning and serve in big bowls with a swirl of Greek yogurt on top. Sprinkle with chives, chopped herbs and nuts to garnish.

Tuesday, 28 November 2017

“In Spain, the
dead are more alive than the dead of any other country in the world.” -
Federico Garcia Lorca

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.

Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Toledo is a city and
municipality located in central Spain; it is the capital of the province of
Toledo and the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Toledo was declared a
World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 for its extensive monumental and cultural
heritage. Toledo is known as the “Imperial City” for having been the main venue
of the court of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and as the “City of the Three
Cultures” for the cultural influences of Christians, Muslims and Jews reflected
in its history. It was also the capital of the ancient Visigothic kingdom of
Hispania, which followed the fall of the Roman Empire, and the location of
historic events such as the Visigothic Councils of Toledo.

Toledo has a
long history in the production of bladed weapons, which are now popular
souvenirs of the city. People who were born or have lived in Toledo include
Brunhilda of Austrasia, Al-Zarqali, Garcilaso de la Vega, Eleanor of Toledo,
Alfonso X and El Greco. As of 2015, the city had a population of 83,226. and an
area of 232.1 km2.

In the 13th
century, Toledo was a major cultural centre under the guidance of Alfonso X,
called “El Sabio” (the Wise) for his love of learning. The Toledo School of
Translators, that had commenced under Archbishop Raymond of Toledo, continued
to bring vast stores of knowledge to Europe by rendering great academic and
philosophical works in Arabic into Latin. The Palacio de Galiana, built in the
Mudéjar style, is one of the monuments that remain from that period.

The Cathedral of
Toledo (Catedral de Toledo) was built between 1226–1493 and modelled after the
Bourges Cathedral, though it also combines some characteristics of the Mudéjar
style. It is remarkable for its incorporation of light and features the Baroque
altar called El Transparente, several stories high, with fantastic figures of
stucco, paintings, bronze castings, and multiple colours of marble, a
masterpiece of medieval mixed media by Narciso Tomé topped by the daily effect
for just a few minutes of a shaft of light from which this feature of the
cathedral derives its name.

Two notable
bridges secured access to Toledo across the Tajo, the Alcántara bridge and the
later built San Martín bridge. The Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes is a
Franciscan monastery, built 1477–1504, in a remarkable combination of
Gothic-Spanish-Flemish style with Mudéjar ornamentation. Toledo was home to El
Greco for the latter part of his life, and is the subject of some of his most
famous paintings, including “The Burial of the Count of Orgaz”, exhibited in
the Church of Santo Tomé. When Philip II moved the royal court from Toledo to
Madrid in 1561, the old city went into a slow decline from which it never
recovered.

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Welcome to Nicholas V's Blog on Blogger

I have been blogging daily on this platform for several years now. It is surprising that I have persisted as the world is changing and "microblogging" is now the norm. I blog to amuse myself, make comment on current affairs, externalise some of my creativity, keep notes on things that interest me, learn something new and to surprise myself with things that I discover about this wonderful, and sometimes crazy, world we live in.

I sometimes get the impression that I am on a soapbox delivering a monologue, so your comments are welcome.